Born in Paris in 1924, Jacques Lusseyran was 15 at the time of the German occupation and by 16 had formed and was heading an underground resistance movement of 600 youths—a feat remarkable on its own, yet from the age of eight Lusseyran had also been totally blind. Yet because he was blind, Lusseyran says, he was able to "see" men, avoiding many potential dangers and discovering an inner light, which served him even after his betrayal and imprisonment at Buchenwald.

"How do you explain the incredible suspense of this book? You know he lives—he's gone on to write it down, after all. So why is your breath caught in your throat and why can't you put this book down even the second or third time through it? ... This is a magical book, the kind that becomes a classic, passed along between friends."—Baltimore Sun